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Hi! It’s a pleasure to join this amazing forum, which i’ve read extensively.
I love jazz and my dream and no1 guitar is a blonde 175 which I handpicked from a bunch of 175s 10 years ago, and still makes me smile every time I play it! I also play with a es330 with p90, and a tele, great axes as well!
Now I’d like to ask the forum for some advices regarding a hot topic (and of course it has been asked before!) regarding a new amp purchase.
Being in europe has its drawbacks, namely the difficulty on trying some loved amps in the forum..
I love the tube sound, I have an amazing deluxe reverb with a 12cannabis rex speaker, which gives me an amazing jazz sound, but 20kg!
My priority is to buy a portable amp, say 10kg.
10years ago i had one of the first henriken amps, but I didn’t bond with the eq and the flat sound, and ended up selling it.
I love that electric dynamic jazz sound with a bite (little break up) when you dig the strings, think more wes and kenny burrell, or julian lage!
The options are the pro junior iv, but i’m open on trying ss solutions: the bluescube hot, and specially the quilters are more appealing to my ears than the muffled polytone/dv mark sound. (I love the Tim Lerch archtop demo playing just friends!).
I was thinking between the quilter 101 reverb with a 10inch blockdock or the micropro mach2 combos (8 vs 10 inch speaker).
I have a pedalboard if i need overdrive so the micropro would be only for cleanish sounds.
It’s very overwhelming to compare these models without trying them so I kindly appreciate if you could share your experience!
Sorry for the long post and thanks in advance for your advices!
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02-15-2019 05:26 PM
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I have the Pro Junior III and the DV Mark Little Jazz. They both fit what you are looking for and neither is too expensive.
The Little Jazz is lighter and more convenient but I like the tube sound of the Pro Junior better so I use it more often, even though it is heavier and I have to add a reverb pedal to the set up. Either way, both amps are small and sound good.
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Thanks for your reply!
Since i went the tube road, everytime I think of getting a portable solution and contemplate a solid state innovation, at the end I tend to go tube again, that’s why the pro junior is a first contender.
Of course I wonder why the quilter hype got so many tube amp fans!
I have this portable and versatile pedalboard (not just for straight jazz) so I really don’t feel i truly need all the bells and whistles of the micro pro combos, but it’s true they seem to be very practical specially the 8inch one and with great sounds and a bit more versatile at every volume!
Here in europe I can only order from Germany, and the price difference must be considered: 555€ For the pro junior vs 859€ for the 8inch quilter micro pro.
Does anyone have compared both models?
Will the price difference be worth it in the long run?
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If you don't mind buying used or old stock, the Roland Cube amps might be worth checking out. On mine I use the Tweed COSM setting and run the master volume high, gain low to maintain a clean sound with a touch of breakup that can be managed with the hands and volume knob on the guitar. The Cube 60 is plenty loud for small to medium rooms, has a line out to the PA too.
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Cunamara, thanks for your suggestion! my first jazz amp was a 2004 cube 30, and I used for 3 years on small gigs every other week.
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Longways to go, do you have any present use in which you prefer the little jazz to the pro junior?
Originally Posted by Longways to Go
Can you practice with a good tone in low volumes with the pro junior? Do you miss a TMB eq or a master volume on the pro jr? I’m wishing it would be a plug n play amp, and versatile for other genres too with my pedalboard!
it’s interesting to acknowledge that the pro junior 555€+ dv mark little jazz 350€ in europe can be cheaper than the quilter micropro mach 2 12hd (959€)! So I find it difficult to justify double the price for the quilter itself.
Any more opinions in the forum regarding that comparison?
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This can be so subjective, but I’ll give you my experience. For a small tube (valve) amp I love the sound I get from the Fender Blues Junior (15 watts). The Blues Jr doesn’t seem to get much love here, but my Heritage Golden Eagle sounds so sweet with this amp.
For a solid state I agree with a previous poster, the Roland Cube amps are really good and no too expensive. I have a Roland Micro Cube RX (excellent practice amp) and a 80 XL Cube.
I do have to admit though I personally favor the tube amp sound. Tube amps to my ears have such a warm sound.
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Let me just say that the Pro Jr is not for everyone. It starts out "hissy" or noisy with the crappy fender tubes, and the tone adjustments are minimal. But I still love it. I put a nice old 5751 tube in V1. I play it at home and at gigs. Volume and tone controls low around 3, and with the guitar volume very low. It's just a perfect sound for me with my 175. Originally Posted by Pacordes
The Little Jazz is much easier to control, also smaller and lighter.
It's also great in it's own way. No problems there.
But I still prefer the tube sound of the Pro Jr.
FYI, I also owned a Quilter Aviator 8". It was OK. Loud for sure, but not my sound.
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I loved my cube 80gx, but it’s closer to 15kg and is solid state. The Fender Super Champ XD is a tube amp, and comes in at almost exactly 10kg. It has a great clean channel, but it also has a second channel for every other sound you may want to explore. Great amp!
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Thanks everybody for your useful opinions!
I’ve just ordered a pro jr iv and a dvmark little jazz.
At least for my needs, i didn’t felt the quilter would be 2times better than those two to justify at least double the price.
I’m going to compare both and hopefully I’ll return one of them.
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The Monoprice 15 Watt tube amp checks a lot of boxes. Tube amp (3 12AX7's, 2 EL84's), 12" speaker, hi/low input switching, effects loop, gain, master volume, master tone, TMB EQ, external speaker output, spring reverb. It typically costs $200-$250.
It's virtually identical to a Laney Cub 12r. I switched the 12AX7's in V1 and V2 for 5751's and have been very happy with the amp.
Monoprice 15 Watt Tube Amp
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I appreciate the suggestion, but as I’m in Europe, there is no availability of that model. Originally Posted by lawson-stone
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Well, both amps arrived yesterday, and I got to try them only at 11pm, but it was fun!
i played only my 175 with thomastik swing 12s
both amps surprised me. I wasn’t expecting to like both, which makes my life difficult- I have to convince myself that I don’t need to keep both.
the pro junior has everything that I love in my fenders (i have a vibrolux 68 custom and a deluxe reverb 65)
but so portable. I enjoy the 10’inch jensen speaker sound, didn’t find any boxiness which is often described with this model. It has the spank and the sparkle that i love with my fender amps, so portable compared to the bigger models. Much more dynamic and responsive than the dvmark! A bit brighter than the dvmark, but i didn’t mess a lot with the tone knob, I have to explore its possibilities. The tweed is great and the sound reminds all the vintage records that we all love.
moving on to the dvmark little jazz I was surprised! Didn’t expect to like it so much, it was plainer and more unidimensional, without the dynamics or the sparkle of the fender tube amp, but it was balanced, full sounding, and very easy to achieve a nice jazz sound.
I had one of the first henriksen jazzamps, with which I never bonded, and from memory I very much prefer the little jazz. It’s very small and so portable, even lighter than the pro junior.
Not a easy decision! Both very good and usable sounds!! Tube vs transistor! Vintage vs modern! Dynamic and brighter vs warmer, fuller(?) and balanced!
Longways to go, based on your long run experience with both amps, can you give me a reason to keep (or not) both amps?
Different uses? How they cut in the mix with a bass player and drums?! I won’t be able to try them in a band context before the end of the return window...
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Hey Pacordes,
You are asking the wrong guy which amp to keep as I still own both with no plan of selling
I don't use either amp in a loud band context, but for quiet duo (electric bass & guitar) and occasionally trio with drums.
I love both amps-- the Little Jazz for when I'm feeling lazy about carry stuff and the Pro Junior for when I really want that tube sound (which is most of the time). If I was going to try a louder gig with one of these amps, I'd choose the Pro Junior first. It's got balls!
But I am accustomed to my trusty Henriksen 110ER for my louder sound. I should probably try out these other two amps on a loud gig sometime -- they'd probably do just fine. But I am cautious and conservative about my sound and I don't play loud very often and the Henriksen has been rock solid for me.
I'm glad you are enjoying the amps !!!!
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The ZT Lunchbox is a lot of sound for a little amp. I use it with bass, synths and guitar.
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Since you have a pedalboard, I assume you play other styles as well (blues)? So maybe check how the two amps fare with pedals etc apart from straight ahead jazz. I had a pro Junior years back, never bonded with it, back I suspect had I tried it with a simple eq pedal it would have been a different story. Anyone can compare the pro Junior with the champ x2 reissue volume and headroom wise?
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Well, I think I understand your eq pedal comment regarding the pro junior. I need more time to test both amps, and I haven’t tried yet the pro jr with a reverb pedal, but after first impressions, and with a es330, the bright trebly sounds of the pro jr seem dfficult to tame, and to make a rounder sound as I get on my deluxe reverb with a cannabis rex.. i tried to increase the pro jr volume in order to fat the sound, but then it results on a unbalanced sound and a bit muddy on the bassy notes... I’m getting second thoughts about the pro jr.. it looks like a beast difficult to control... as a much as I would want to favour it... also I noticed that the sound I get when standing a couple of meters from the amp is brighter and thin. Originally Posted by Alter
The little jazz has less dynamic range, but it is so easy to get a balanced sound, more evenly dispersed across the room. Maybe not exactly my cup of tea soundwise, but I seem to concentrate more on the playing and not to worry so much about trying to improve the tone...
As I have a very good tube sound with my 20kg fender amps, the Solid state solution for a portable amp is starting to grow on me.
Maybe the more expensive quilter micropro mach2 could be a better match? The quilter jazz crowd are constantly raving about it..
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I posted a review of the Little Jazz separately, but here's a little more.
I played in a sextet yesterday, fairly loud. Today with a quartet, not so loud.
The LJ sounded terrific in both situations. Today I used it instead of my old Reverberocket and was very happy.
I even saw it on sale. I think GC had it for around $325. Weighs 15 lbs. I used it successfully on a gig with a 19 piece band last month.
Terrific piece of gear.
Disclosure: I have nothing to do with the manufacture and I paid full price for mine.
Edit: A couple of days later: I subbed for the piano in a big band rehearsal. 16 pieces. Loud! This is a jazz band. Thad Jones charts, Buddy Rich like that. Leader hands out Reeling in the Years and the chart asks for screaming distortion. The guitar is screaming over the horns through most of the chart. I had the LJ set for comping the tune before. I select my distortion preset and start playing and I'm nowhere near loud enough. I crank the output on my pedalboard and I'm still not loud enough. I reach over to the amp, which is at a funny angle and I can't see how it's set. I could even see, or remember, which knob was which. I cranked a few a them clockwise. The thing just screamed. I'm not sure it was really loud enough, but it was close. Nobody complained. Another pleasant surprise. It's a lot of amp for the size, weight and money.Last edited by rpjazzguitar; 03-07-2019 at 03:12 AM.
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I don know if this adds anything to the discussion, maybe your search is already over, but I just felt like adding this:
I use several tube amps (Fender Twin Reverb and Blues Deluxe, Framus Strato 345, Dynacord DA16/V) and like the way they sound/feel/interact more than (most, if not all) solid state amps. I too searched a long time for a portable solid state solution to get the tube amp feel. I found that in the British-made Award Session BluesBaby 22 amp (Award-Session website, BluesBaby 22, BluesBaby 45, Guitar Amp, Session).
I purchased the amp as a chassis only and built a pine cab myself in which I put a lightweight Jensen NEO 12-100 speaker. To me, this BluesBaby amp comes the closest to a tube amp in terms of feel and response of all solid state solutions I tried (but I haven't tried it all). The designer of the amp, Stewart Ward, explains that it's a specially designed negative feedback circuit that emulates the interaction of an output transformer with the speaker, which - according to mr Ward - is what is the biggest difference between tube amps and solid state amps and creates that 'tube feel'. Judging by the sound and feel of the BluesBaby 22 amp he could well be right about that!
My BluesBaby weights under 8 kgs, sports a 12" speaker and delivers 22 "tube watts" just like your Deluxe Reverb. It sounds loud! It has enough headroom to stay clean in jazz settings and if you like a little hair on the tone: it excels in that! Biggest plus is you can dial in the 'hair' at any volume with the gain/drive knob. I have even used it on stage with a big band with satisfying results (but you have to sit close to the amp).
Here's an impression of it's sound:
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Hi Pacordes,
Have you tried amps built for acoustic guitars ? Fed through a pedalboard the Giulia should do the job as well as with the 175 directly plugged in... Not sure the tele will scream but this amp offers 50w packed within the size of a swiss cookoo clock, no weight and soundwise the output is worth trying ...
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I'm now using my Little Jazz instead of my vintage Reverberocket in my rehearsal room.
I can get my sound and forget about the amp. With the Reverberocket there is a bit a an edge (some distortion?) I can hear on chords. I don't notice it with the LJ.
I would strongly suggest that anybody looking for a lightweight amp, 15 lbs, consider the LJ. I think the main limitation would be in a loud band in a big room with no PA. There is also the argument that, if the LJ isn't loud enough, there ought to be a PA. Not that there always will be.
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I totally agree with you rpjazzguitar! And I’ going to quote you: “It's a lot of amp for the size, weight and money.”
It’s so easy to have a good sound with the LJ. The sound is round, warm and full and you set and forget. The eq seems extremely useful and effective with the mid knob providing a volume boost that should help on cutting in the mix.
I tried the external speaker out with a celestion v30 12’ and will be helpful on bigger venues if needed; provided more volume and more bass as expected.
I don’t love the reverb, and with a boss rv pedal I could easily notice a fuller and warmer voice.
So I already decided: I’m keeping the LJ!
The pro junior is a different beast and definitely improves with a reverb pedal. With the jensen speaker, It’s easy to dial a beautiful vintage voice and the dynamics you expect from a tube amp.
I used an attenuator to achieve full volume, and what a great sound for blues!!!
So it’s a keeper too!
No more gear this year! it’s a promise..
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Mini ampli guitare et mini ampli basse
Based in France. I bought one, live in the UK, it's perfect. You can buy an extension cab too if the one speaker isn't enough.Last edited by don_oz; 03-12-2019 at 07:25 PM.
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They look great .... Originally Posted by don_oz
with the combo design ....
I'm concerned that the amp knobs stick out
Is there a problem with the knobs getting hit and damaged ?
thanks Don
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Well, they also sell a carrying bag for the amp, I haven't had any problems with the knobs. Originally Posted by pingu
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